Here in a single volume are all of the short stories that feature Lord Peter Wimsey. The collection begins with "The Abominable History of the Man with Copper Fingers" and the other 11 tales that comprise Lord Peter Views the Body from 1928, and ends with "The Haunted Policeman," which begins as Lord Peter views his firstborn with incredulity, and "Talboys," in which the mischievous son is now four years of age. Called "one of the greatest mystery story writers of this century" by the Los Angeles Times, Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) was a British novelist, essayist, and scholar best known for her Lord Peter Wimsey tales, which have been nominated for an Anthony Award for Best Series of the Century. At the beginning of the series in 1923, the monocled aristocrat is a carefree war hero with loads of money and free time to spend on amateur sleuthing; by the time the series ends Lord Peter has developed into a man of conscience and moral responsibility, though the series never loses its wit. Accompanied in many of his adventures by mystery writer Harriet Vane—they meet in Strong Poison and marry in Busman's Honeymoon—Lord Peter is, as Sayers wrote, "the romantic soul at war with a realistic brain."

What could be of greater joy to Wimsey fanciers than this folume of all the short stories about him?… Every one a model of style, pure and detection, and character-and-background delight…. Rich and glorious."—San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle